Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2097 Gao's Establishment of the Central Court and the Rise of the Zhao Song Dynasty: Supporting the Central Court and Resisting the Rise of the Zhao Song Dynasty

The selection of those to go to Dali was led by Gu Ling, with Yuan Shao as his deputy.

In addition to these people, Wang Yu transferred several generals from the army to assist the two of them.

Although Wang Yingkan had already sent people to persuade the remnants of Dou Jiande's forces to surrender to the Han, at that time, Dou Jiande's forces were already at their wits' end, which is why they were able to agree so readily.

However, once they arrived in Dali and the previous crisis was resolved, no one knew whether this idea would change.

Therefore, Gu Ling and Yuan Shao couldn't just rely on their words to take over this force.

However, there is definitely no military support.

It wouldn't be difficult for a few people to conceal their identities and have the Net escort them there. But how could an army possibly cross the territory of the Zhao Song dynasty to reach Dali?
Moreover, if an army were actually sent there, Dali might not accept it!

Dali accepted the remnants of Dou Jiande's forces, not the Han Dynasty.

Dou Jiande is now dead, and his remaining followers are like water without roots. Once they arrive in Dali, Dali can easily control them and has nothing to fear from them causing trouble.

If it were a big man instead, then Dali would be in danger!
Therefore, this force could only be a remnant of Dou Jiande's forces, and could not be associated with the Han Dynasty.

If the army couldn't handle it, then they could only send a few strong generals. Therefore, Wang Yu planned to have a group of generals, including Liang Lin, Liang Fang, Huangfu Long, Huangfu Dou, and Han Meng, secretly accompany Gu Ling and Yuan Shao to Dali.

Liang Lin and Liang Fang have been guarding Tianlang Pass for many years and have some reputation in the north, but if they leave the north, who would recognize them? Let alone outside of Dacang!

As for Huangfu Long, Huangfu Dou, Han Meng, and others, they were all generals who surrendered in this battle, some from Dongcang and some from Zhongcang.

With a little manipulation, the Luo Wang (a powerful online network) could easily disguise them as exiles after their defeat. It's not surprising that these people, after leaving Da Cang, mingled with the remnants of Dou Jiande's forces, who were also exiles.

These small dynasties generally welcomed these exiles!
After all, while luck certainly played a part in his ability to go into exile after the defeat, he wouldn't have survived this long without his skills.

Especially these smaller dynasties, any one with even a modicum of ambition would not refuse these people. After all, it is naturally much more difficult for these smaller dynasties to win over talented individuals compared to established imperial powers.

The key point is that these people have all become exiles. After arriving, without any foundation, they naturally have to stick firmly to the dynasty.

Especially given the current situation where Dali faces strong external rivals, the addition of such individuals is even more welcome.

Otherwise, Wang Yingkan's mission, disguised as a remnant of Dou Jiande's forces, wouldn't have been so successful.

………………

The fact that the remnants of Dou Jiande's forces were in contact with the Dali Dynasty was not kept from Zhao Kuangyin.

Although the Imperial City Division did not receive the massive financial support of the Luo Net in its early stages of development, it also did not have a major financial backer like Wan Sanqian to fully support it in its later stages.

Therefore, it cannot compare with the Net in any aspect.

How could an organization like the Luo Wang and the Imperial City Guard develop, let alone develop rapidly, without financial support?

However, precisely because of this, Zhao Kuangyin did not spread the Imperial City Guard like a net, but instead kept a close eye on the development of Da Cang and its surrounding areas, focusing on refining and deepening his work in a specific region first, and only after accumulating sufficient resources did he consider expanding it on a larger scale.

In fact, establishing an organization that spans the entire world of Apocalypse is not so easy.

The Luo Net has developed rapidly, spreading throughout the seven great dynasties and the four barbarian tribes.

However, the two southern dynasties, as well as the infiltration of the Nanman and Xirong, were clearly no match for the more rapidly developing Da Cang, Da Wu, and Dongyi.

The Dali Kingdom was right under the nose of the Zhao Song Dynasty's sphere of influence, and it wasn't so easy for the Imperial City Division, which focused on Dali's homeland and the surrounding areas, to be completely watertight!

It's not hard to understand why Zhao Kuangyin was able to receive some subtle hints of activity!
Upon receiving the message from the Imperial City Guard, Zhao Kuangyin, who was at the front lines, immediately convened a meeting to discuss the matter.

In the camp, Zhao Kuangyin sat in the central seat, flanked by his strategist Xie Guanying and his cousin Zhao Wuji. Below them were a group of advisors and generals, including Chu Zhaoye, Lou Huan, Xuanwu, Gao Chong, Gao Siji, and Gao Huaide.

During this period, Zhao Kuangyin had a great headache.

Although Xicang received assistance from the Beggars' Sect,
However, this did not actually have a real impact on Zhao Kuangyin.

To put it bluntly, the Beggars' Sect's only advantage was in numbers.

A gang made up of beggars, apart from a few high-ranking members, the rest of them can't even get enough to eat. What kind of fighting power can you expect from them?

Can we really expect them to fight against a well-equipped regular army like in martial arts novels, each armed with a wooden pole?

Therefore, those rabble were more of a nuisance to the Song Dynasty than a real obstacle to the advance of its troops.

However, the Xicang court, which had proposed lifting the martial arts decree several years earlier, received a lot of support from martial arts practitioners.

Especially those martial arts sects within Xicang's sphere of influence, they are truly risking their lives for Xicang!

There was no other way; the previous imperial court had imposed too many restrictions on martial arts sects.

Previously, the imperial courts of various dynasties imposed various restrictions on martial arts sects, classifying them according to size and strictly limiting the number of people in each sect.

To break through this scale, besides being promoted in rank, one can only assist the government and the imperial court in their work, and only after accumulating a certain amount of merit can one be exceptionally allowed to expand to a certain scale.

In addition, the imperial court set countless rules for martial arts sects.

After the Western Cang issued the decree to lift martial arts restrictions, all these limitations were lifted. Otherwise, it wouldn't have attracted so many martial artists in the first place.

In recent years, the martial arts sects within Xicang's sphere of influence have developed rapidly.

However, in contrast to the Xicang Liberation Order, there was the Song Dynasty's slogan of governing the country together with the scholar-officials.

Throughout history, there have been many conflicts between civil and military officials. Although the Song Dynasty did not wisely suppress the military, given that it was a chaotic era, the status of civil officials was clearly, subtly, slightly higher.

Scholars and officials, to put it bluntly, are those who hold official positions. Officials have always looked down on those roughnecks and outlaws, let alone now.

In comparison, these martial artists naturally had to fight to the death to protect the Western Cang court, especially those martial arts sects within Western Cang's sphere of influence. Although these martial artists were not good at fighting on the battlefield, they were indeed difficult to guard against when it came to assassination.

Although most of these assassinations involved minor figures, such as scouts in the army, the frequency of such incidents did indeed give Zhao Kuangyin a headache.

Scouts are among the most elite personnel in the army. If you're not capable enough, you're not qualified to be a scout.

Of course, although most of them were minor figures, they were not immune to taking action against higher-ups.

For example, Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother, Zhao Kuangwu, was assassinated by martial artists from the Xicang region at this time, and had to go to the rear to recuperate.

If he hadn't been forced into such a desperate situation, Zhao Kuangyin wouldn't have had to continuously destroy sects and clans along the way. The number of martial arts sects he wiped out, large and small, was countless, with Yangji Daogu being just the largest one.

What troubled Zhao Kuangyin even more was the interference of Dali.

If Dou Jiande's remaining followers were to join Dali, Dali would undoubtedly grow even stronger. Zhao Kuangyin had no choice but to take this matter seriously.

"Your Majesty, we should either reveal the whereabouts of Dou Jiande's remnants to Da Wu and eliminate them through Da Wu's hands!" The first to speak was not one of the strategists, but rather Xuanwu, a fierce general.

Although Xuanwu is fierce, fierceness does not mean stupidity. He may not seem shrewd, but he has a kind of wisdom that appears foolish.

“General Xuan, we can all detect the situation here, do you think the Great Wu side doesn’t know? The strength of the Heavenly Martial Academy is not to be underestimated!” Chu Zhaoye stepped forward and said.

The strength of the Tianwu Academy is even slightly stronger than that of the Northern and Southern Military Prefectures at their peak. It is not only inferior to the Imperial City Guard, but also to the current Luo Wang.

After all, how long has the Luo Wang (Net of Heaven) been developing? And how long has the Tianwu Academy (Heavenly Martial Academy) been developing?
"Da Wu allowed this army to move towards the Tianshan Mountains and Dali, probably so that one day he could have a legitimate reason to attack!" Chu Zhaoye continued to explain.

"What Lord Chu says makes sense!"

"Let alone Dou Jiande's remnants, even at the height of Dou Jiande's power, he was nothing more than a minor threat to Da Wu! Da Wu's worries mainly lie outside!"

"A remnant of the army, Da Wu probably wouldn't care whether they live or die!"

“And once these people arrive in Dali, if the external situation of Dawu is stable in the future, wouldn’t that give them a reason to send troops to pacify the other countries?” Xie Guanying agreed.

As chaos erupted, many of the smaller dynasties that had previously served as buffer zones between the major dynasties declared that they were no longer needed.

Although these dynasties were small and insignificant among the many dynasties, the gains from annexing all of those dozen or so small dynasties would be considerable.

Therefore, it is worthwhile to let a force that is insignificant and poses no threat to oneself leave, but leaves oneself with a good reason for the future.

After all, if the Great Wu were to be relatively stable externally, allowing these dynasties to swallow it all up in one go, it could recover a significant amount of its losses.

"Your Majesty, Dou Jiande's remnants are nothing but exiles! They sought refuge in Dali only for survival, but Dali is not the only power capable of accepting these exiles!" Lou Huan said with a smile.

"Moreover, among the various states, there is not a single, impenetrable wall; it is not impossible to divide and conquer them!"

The remnants of Dou Jiande's forces certainly couldn't directly enter the sphere of influence of the Zhao Song dynasty. After all, the two sides were currently separated by those smaller dynasties. If they wanted to reach the Zhao Song's sphere of influence, they would have to pass through those smaller dynasties.

However, among those small dynasties, Dali was not the only one that could accept them.

These small dynasties were constantly in conflict with each other.

The four small dynasties that once stood at the northern border of Dawu and Dacang claimed to advance and retreat together, but in the end, they all had conflicts. Not to mention the dozen or so dynasties, whose internal situations were bound to be even more complicated.

If the Song dynasty could win over another dynasty and put it out to compete with Dali, and then have that dynasty win over the remnants of Dou Jiande's forces, it might not be a bad option.

Da Wu made a seemingly insignificant move, leaving himself a prelude to his future plans for these dynastic territories.

Once the Zhao Song dynasty has dealt with Xicang, they can naturally also plot against these smaller dynasties.

Although these small dynasties in the southern parts of Dawu and Dacang are mostly mountainous and have relatively little arable land, unlike the prosperous lands of the Four Rivers, even the smallest flies and mosquitoes are still meat.

"My dear minister, do you already have a target?" Zhao Kuangyin asked Lou Huan with a smile.

Inciting conflicts between these smaller dynasties to benefit the Song dynasty was indeed a brilliant strategy.

However, the martial arts factions within these smaller dynasties were far more rampant than those within the major imperial dynasties. In fact, the Dali Dynasty's royal family itself was the largest martial arts family in Dali.

These martial arts practitioners are used to being undisciplined, and they have always resisted the suppression of the martial arts world by the various dynasties.

"Your Majesty, is Dazhong alright?" Lou Huan asked with a smile.

"Very well, my words are exactly what I think!"

The moment Lou Huan revealed this plan, Zhao Kuangyin's first thought was of the Dazhong Clan established by the Gao family.

The feud between these two companies has a long history!
The Dali Kingdom has existed for quite some time, nearly three hundred years. Of all the dynasties in the world, only two have lasted for more than three hundred years.

Dali was once quite prosperous, and even nearly unified those smaller dynasties. If he had succeeded, the dynasty would no longer have been Qin, but Dali.

However, more than a hundred years ago, during the heyday of Dali, it was a period in which the ruler was weak and the ministers were strong.

At that time, Gao Shengtai, as prime minister, even attempted to usurp the throne. Fortunately, although the ruler of Dali was weak and the ministers were strong, the Dali royal family was also powerful.

As a result, Gao Shengtai's attempt to usurp the throne failed.

However, even so, it caused a split in Dali, which was at its peak at the time. After Gao Shengtai's death, Gao Shengtai's younger brother took advantage of Gao Shengtai's remaining influence and occupied southern Dali, establishing the state of Dazhong, when Dali was severely weakened by this internal strife.

From then on, the once prosperous Dali was divided into two dynasties: Dali and Dazhong.

From then on, this chaotic land never had another chance to be unified.

These two families are sworn enemies. If they wanted to win over a dynasty to fight against Dali, Dazhong would naturally be the first choice.